Four Ways to Manage the “Project Grapevine” Ever heard the song “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”? Were they talking about the project grapevine at your company? The “grapevine” is a great metaphor for the way informal and unofficial news travels from person to person. Official news comes through official channels. Informal news, rumors and […]
An Optimized Portfolio “Pivots” Quickly to Respond to Change Agile portfolios are flexible and can respond quickly to changes in business needs. This ability to change directions quickly is referred to as the “pivot”. (“Pivoting” is also a basketball term. It refers to planting your foot (the pivot foot) and then quickly changing directions.) How […]
Eight Characteristics of a High-Performance Team Have you ever been on a project team that had everything going right? The team members all got along; they all had the right skills; they had the right processes; everyone worked hard and pulled together to get the project done. Those are just some of the characteristics of a high-performing […]
Start Your Project Off Right with a Kickoff Meeting The purpose of the kickoff meeting is to formally notify all stakeholders that the project has begun and made sure everyone has a common understanding of the project and their role. Like all formal meetings, there should be an agenda. There are a number of specific things […]
Agile 101 – Story Points Lead to Velocity and Rhythm One of the unique aspects of an Agile project is that the workload for each iteration is determined at the beginning of each iteration. In other words, the workload is not laid out months and months in advance. There is only a need to plan for the […]
Eight Less Obvious Ways to Find Project Success There are many techniques and processes to help you be successful on a project. Some of them, like stakeholder engagement and proactive communication, are pretty well understood. Here are some other ways to increase the likelihood of success on your project that are not so obvious. Understand […]
Use These Five Tips to Manage Your “To Do” List There are many tips and techniques to help you with personal time management. However, the one that seems to be universally recommended is the to-do list. It is hard to take control of your day if you don’t have a plan for what you want […]
Use These Four Steps to Complete a Feasibility Study A Feasibility Study is used in a couple areas of a project. It can be part of a portfolio management process to determine if you even want to approve a project. It can also be used within a project to determine in the chosen solution is feasible. The […]
Use Soft Skills to Resolve Personal Conflicts on Projects Good managers can work with all kinds of people, and don’t shy away from the challenge of working through conflict. Conflict can occur for all types of reasons – and conflict is not necessarily bad. Conflict occurs when different people have different ideas. There may be […]
Use These Five Ideas to Build a High-Performing Team What exactly is a high performing team? It’s a team that exceeds the goals you set by working hard and smart as a group, not individuals. It’s a team that enjoys working together. Most teams do not reach the high-performing stage. That is why they are […]
